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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/robert-orr/lost/
Before we open the Word of God together, so we have a word of prayer. Our loving Father, we would now, again in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, look heavenward a few moments. We thank Thee for these testimonies.
An older brother in the Lord, a younger, each one realized need and danger and the doom of dying without Christ. We bless Thee again for Thy love that gave Thy son from heaven, for the purpose that he came to save the lost and guilty, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
What suffering and shame he bore, what agony and sorrow was his to experience, and yet, Father, in those six hours, as he hung upon that cruel cross with all its shame, he finished the work that only puts sin away, ended by one sacrifice for sins forever.
We thank Thee for the gospel of Thy grace. He was delivered for our offenses, but raised again for our justification. A living Savior now seated on the throne in heaven, and yet in our hands is the Holy Scriptures, and it contains a message of the gospel of Thy grace.
And so we look to Thee now as we would consider the truth that is set before us of Thy great plan of salvation, that even this hour, this evening, it would be brought to the heart of some individual in truth.
So, our Father, we do not limit Thee. We thank Thee for an open door, for the provision provided for every lost and guilty one. Grant Thy help as the word of God is open. We'll give Thee the praise, the glory, and the honor.
We ask it in the name and for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I want to read first from 1 Peter 2, a few words that Peter relates to our blessed Savior and His experience as He was coming to the cross and experiencing it.
Read with me in 1 Peter 2, looking at verse, or breaking in at verse 22, 1 Peter 2 and 22. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
Who, his own self, bear our sins, in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. For we were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.
Now, come back, we're pleased, to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We'll break in at verse 3. But if our gospel be hid. Now, the writer is Paul the Apostle. He's speaking to fellow believers, so it's our gospel.
They've embraced the gospel. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world, spelled with a small g, it's Satan, the God of this world, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake. My final reading, the gospel of Luke.
We'll go to chapter 19, beginning at verse 1. Luke 19 and verse 1. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.
And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house.
And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. When they, that is a people, when they saw it, they all murmured, saying that he, the Lord, was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, this day is salvation come to this house, for so much as he also is the son of Abraham, for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The Lord bless the reading of these scriptures. I want to think of three thoughts as I pondered for a little while this evening, thinking of the gospel meeting. Peter's words concerning the suffering Savior, his sinlessness, his holiness, and while men placed him upon the cross, he uttered no word of retaliation, neither in the place of shame as he stood before Pilate and Herod and back to Pilate and all that they were hurled and railed upon him.
Yet Peter brings to the recognition of this, that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior that saves, was the one who his own self bear our sins on his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins might live unto righteousness, by whose stripes we are healed.
I would like you to ponder before we proceed any further in these thoughts, the great cost of a provision in regard to your sin and mine, that God has provided in the substitutionary work of the Savior upon Calvary, to set us free from the guilt and penalty of sin, and to bring us into the blessing and assurance of what it is to know the Savior that saves.
How wonderful the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. He loved his Son, he spared not his Son, but he delivered them up for us all. Now shall not God freely by him give us all things. So the gospel is concerning the sufferings of our blessed Lord Jesus, the only one that could pay the debt of sin and settle the righteous claims of the holy righteous throne of heaven against us, that you and I could be forgiven and have peace with God and be reconciled to God through the Savior's death.
We would ask you tonight, have you thought about your soul today? Where you're going to dwell in the hereafter? It'll be heaven and glory or hell in the lake of fire and eternal doom. God desires, friend, that you might know his blessed Son and enjoy the peace that God's salvation brings and the satisfaction of resting in the work that he accomplished to deliver you from ruin and shame.
The rages of sin or death is Romans 6 23, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's not only a Savior whose life was given, who bowed to death and paid the price to set us free and rose in triumph as a victory, but friend, there's an enemy that's opposing you.
You're out of Christ. He's introduced to us in the Bible in the form of a serpent. He came into the garden of Eden. He was away from Adam and in that garden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
There he was and he said to they were not to eat of the tree of life there as well. And he said, hath God said. Has God really said this? Is God true? What has he said? And she had eaten of that fruit and nothing happened.
It looked good. It appealed to her and nothing happened. But she gave to Adam and he partook of that fruit and immediately their eyes were opened and they knew they had sinned against their own creator.
God had to put them out of the garden and the flaming swords at the cherubim's east end of the garden, lest they take of the tree of life and live forever in their sins. We ask you tonight to ponder this.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Is there a lost soul in this gathering tonight? Satan is blinding the mind to keep you as it were at ease. And he may get you to try to assume that because you believe there's a God above that you're accountable to him.
And you perhaps do believe that the Savior came and died at Calvary and rose in triumph. You perhaps do believe that the gospel is the only means of salvation. But friend, have you recognized as an individual you are lost in your sins and you need God's salvation?
And we bless God that you can trust and receive Christ this very hour tonight. But Satan deceives and he's the one who, Revelation 12 says he's the old deceiver, the serpent, and he's seeking to whisper in your mind someday, someplace, somewhere.
You want God's salvation, but friend, you have no guarantee that in another hour, but what the Lord could step to the air and rapture home every living saint on the face of the earth to meet the those who've gone on to the head.
So the God of this age, a deceiver, and he'll be busy working in this meeting tonight, trying to turn your thoughts away from your sin, your unbelief. Because friend, it's not believing in your believing, it's coming as a lost sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want to ponder for a few minutes this man Zacchaeus and his concern about his soul and what he had in his mind. He wanted to see Jesus. Luke is the only writer who tells us the story of the little man, a tax collector, hired out by the Romans to collect the taxes from the people.
They were not very popular with the rank and file of people, but somewhere along in the journeys of the Lord, Jesus Zacchaeus had heard about Jesus. And the Lord was coming down and entered and passed through Jericho.
And the little man Zacchaeus, the chief of the publicans, he had been successful in life as far as his own profession. It says in verse three, there was a desire in his heart. You know, that's the first thing to ponder.
Do you desire God's salvation? I'll never forget a night, August 27, 1950. We were coming to gospel meetings. My brother and I, folks, of course, did the driving. We had no trouble getting the chores done in time to drive the 30 miles to Waterloo to the gospel meeting.
I didn't know my brother, two years and a half younger than I, was concerned. We had never talked about it personally. But I recall that Sunday night, the text of William Patterson for the evening's meeting was Isaiah 53 and 5.
The Lord Jesus the prophet wrote, He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes we were healed. He took up the five wounds that medical terminology recognized and showed from the scriptures that the Lord received from the hands of men all those types of wounds, the scourging of his back, the nails through his hands and feet, the tearing of the flesh and the nail prints, and the poking of hair from his cheeks.
And I just don't recall all that he showed, but I left that hall that night thinking he didn't deserve this. He did it for others. But I still wasn't prepared to take the place that what our brethren admitted before they were saved.
It was something personal for me. Here's a little man and he heard the Savior was coming and he was desiring to be saved. He was short, little of stature, makes me think of conference meetings as a boy, ages of eight, ten, and we'd stand in the group as we waited to get into the meal room and there's all those people and I couldn't look above them, just a little fella.
Friend, tonight every one of us by nature before a holy God is little of stature. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Whether you've had just a few sins in your thinking before God or a mother too, one sin put Adam and Eve out of the garden, one sin dooms you for hell, and friend keeps you out of heaven.
Thank God for a Savior who says has suffered. And this little man, he climbed the tree. He was determined. He thought if I can climb the tree, when I'm up there, however height that sycamore tree was, I'll be able as the Lord passes by to look down, I'll get to see him.
You know, he had a right desire and going about in the wrong way. He was going to make a discovery that would to God some soul might make here in the gathering tonight. The Lord came to the foot of that sycamore tree and stopped and he looked up into the tree.
The little man that did not know the Lord Jesus, but the Lord Jesus knew his name, Zacchaeus. Make haste and come down, for I must abide at thy house today. You notice it's a personal matter? You notice it's the move now in the part of the sinner?
Because friend, the Savior was making his way to the place called Calvary. And it's Peter that lifts the word as we read, that they placed upon that tree the cross with a shame was from a tree. And he suffered there as the sin bearer, the one to pay the price and the shamanist and the sacrifice.
And here's Zacchaeus thinking in himself, I'll think about it a while. No. Verse four says, he made haste, sorry verse five, he made haste and come down. I've often put it this way, when he began to climb that a tree and I've noticed sycamore trees, I've seen a few of them pointed out in my life, they're easy to climb the branches as they go.
You know, he was empty-handed before he started to climb. That's you and I before God by nature of Adam's ruin race. You have nothing to present to God. Works and prayers and Sunday school verses that we learned as boys and gospel meetings that we attended.
And yet friend, empty-handed sinners cannot fill their hands with other things. He may have been clinging to something and thought, well, this limb I'll just wait and see. No, the Lord says, make haste and come down.
And as he came down that sycamore tree, at the bottom of the tree, he was empty-handed. What does verse six say? He received him joyfully. That Monday night, it was 24 and a half hours after the meeting had closed on Sunday night.
I thought to myself, the Bible tells me there's a Savior who has finished the work. I put a question to Mr. Patterson, how do you know when you're a believer? I didn't get a direct answer. I was a when the people are out.
There was probably 200 people in that gospel hall. God was moving. It was five of us saved in just 10 meetings. And I recall he went back in a few minutes. My brother unknown to me followed us. We sat down in the chairs.
There he was. He read it. He read again Isaiah 53 and 5. We need to bring before our focus the Savior who paid the debt of sin for sinners, wounded for our transgressions. And he turned to the verse in third chapter, 1 Peter, for Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
You know, if you can imagine what I was doing, I was sitting there in that chair with hands around my face. Pardon personal testimony, but we hope it'll be a help. One verse in the Old Testament pointing to what Christ bore on the cross for sinners.
One verse in the New Testament pointing to He hath once suffered for sins. You'll never have to do it again. What a provision! But Zacchaeus had to receive Christ personally. When he took him out his word, he came down that tree and the Savior said at verse 9, this day is salvation come to this man's house.
You see, the people were critical that the Lord would even be interested in that man. I picture him as a little man in a hurry. He ran ahead of the crowd. He climbed the tree. It's now my opportunity.
It's my privilege. But the Lord spoke, make haste and come down. Would there be someone in this gathering and we would not limit it to one that would be prepared to own before the holy God of heaven. I'm a lost sinner on the way to hell and eternal doom.
He received him joyfully. He said in verse 10, sorry, verse 8, If I've taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. A change of heart's interest and so on. Zacchaeus is late.
But the Lord Jesus doesn't mention what Zacchaeus talked here about making right what he had done wrong and overcharging the people. The Lord says this day is salvation come to this house for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Sometimes I've seen folks that are more sharper than this man that's getting older. There's a girl here in your state. I would say she was probably 14 and she was speaking to me about salvation and she says, why does it say that Zacchaeus, that it says he came to seek and to save that which was lost.
Verse 10, the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. I thought a moment I said to her, he received the Lord Jesus as Luke tells us at the in verse 6. So when Luke writes concerning the Savior's purpose and what had happened with Zacchaeus, he's no longer lost.
He was lost. But the moment, whatever it be noon or midnight, or right now at three minutes, two minutes to seven, if you're prepared to bow to take the sinner's place, unfit for a holy righteous heaven, in spite of the fact that God loves you friend and the evidence and manifestation of that love is a giving of his own son to the shame and suffering of Calvary.
And in those hours that he was wounded and bruised and the hours that man observed and then the darkness of the three hours when the sunlight was blotted out of the heavens, God dealt with his son on the, as to the penalty and guilt and the punishment of sin.
When that work was accomplished, you know that he cried with a loud voice, it is finished. He didn't say I am finished. I understand it's one word in the original, finished. Lay your thoughts of intentions and whatever you may have assumed is in your favor.
God does love you, but you'll have to let go of any pretense. We're unbelievers by nature as far as believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believed a bottom for nearly 18 years as far as memory goes back.
But friend, the night that I received him sitting in that chair, I became a believer on the Lord Jesus. He wants you tonight. He desires to save you. He is the savior that saves. He is a savior that lives tonight.
Who's calling from heaven through the truth of his word. You see, the Lord gave him his word. This day is salvation come to this house. He would like to come to your house, friend. Would to God you would recognize that on him, almighty vengeance fell enough to sink the world to hell, but he bore it for a sinful race that he might become our hiding place.
The savior paid the price in full. You know it historically, but friend as a poor sinner, would you not realize and recognize that he who accomplished that work, God can provide no more. For all has been provided that is necessary.
The move is yours as a sinner to come to trust them, to receive them, to believe on them. You'll be able to say, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. What a gift that God offers you tonight, the person of his son.
We know not what time we have left. We know not when the door may close. Opportunity gone. The Lord is stepping to the air at some unforeseen moment. The day of grace will be over, but at the moment now he's still calling and we trust that you'll find your way to the person of Christ that you'll be able to say he was indeed the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
May God direct you and draw you to Christ even as a meeting life has followed. For his name's sake.